Popular Brands

Builder’s Deficiencies are Homeowners Risks

Builder’s Deficiencies are Homeowners Risks

By Frank Fourchalk

Don’t risk you and your families safety because your home builder doesn’t know anything aboutproper lock installation. It’s become common place discovering locks that arenot installed properly in many new homes.The problem starts when a builder hires a carpenter to install the locks. For the most part thesetradesmen are not locksmiths and don’t realize how a lock works internally. Thislack of knowledge quite often ends up with the home owner getting the short endof the stick. Imagine purchasing a brand new home, moving your family and all your worldly possessions in and finding out a year later the locks you felt safe and protected behind weren’t locking at all due to improper installation.

You were living in a home where a burglar could enter asquietly and quickly as a fly through an open window. In fact a six year oldchild could easily defeat a lock that is not installed properly. Improperly installed deadbolts should be at the top of the deficiencylist with new home buyers. Builders quite often forget or don’t realize theimportance of drilling a hole deep enough in the frame to accept the bolt. Manynew homes have partial holes drilled in the frame which do not allow the bolt tofully extend into the strike plate (the plate installed on the frame thataccepts the bolt).

Partial holes allow the bolt to enter into the strikeplate, but usually hit against the wood frame 2X4 because they are not drilleddeep enough. When this occurs, an intruder could easily pry the bolt back to theopen position because it has not extended far enough to engage the deadlockfeature.

The remedy for this problem is simple, just dig out a littlemore wood on the strike plate side to allow the bolt to enter without thuddingagainst wood. This will allow the bolt to slide into the deadlocking position. Loose screws, missing screws and wrong size screws are all associatedwith improper lock installation. Don’t jeopardize your security because a tradesman skimped on crucial screws to complete your homes locks.

Remove all screws from your deadbolt checking for consistency, an easy rule to follow for most deadbolts is, if there is a screw on the left side there should be ascrew exactly the same on the right side. The same goes for the top and bottomof the lock.

The building code in most cities calls for 3″ screws that must be fastened through the strike plate and into the wall studding to givemaximum strength to the frame. Skimpy builders are again creating a greatdisservice to the homebuyer by installing much shorter screws in this crucialarea. This problem in most cases can only be detected if the homeowner unscrewsthe screws fastened to the strike plate checking for proper lengths.

Until builders and building inspectors brush up on their lockingknowledge, these problems will always slip through the cracks. So as ahomeowner, take heed, walk around your new home checking for the problem areasand make sure you mark them on your deficiency list.